The Covid-19 pandemic has opened up financing opportunities for metals and mining-focused investment firms. It's also created a problem. The one-two punch demand and supply shock that the virus has created is putting the mining sector under extreme pressure. With banks even more reluctant than before to provide capital to the mining sector amid the tumultuous global financial backdrop, corporates...Read More

The three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange continued its decline at the close of trading on Monday March 30, settling at its lowest level since April 2016, while a steady uptick in lead saw its outright price close at a two-week high. Aluminium's underlying price on the LME closed at $1,530.50 per tonne on Monday afternoon, its lowest level in just under four years, while turnove...Read More

Spot availability of copper scrap is now being limited by a plummeting commodity price in March because suppliers have refused to destock at the price level."At this discounted price level, some copper scrap suppliers could suffer losses. The price of scrap cannot even cover the processing costs so suppliers have become reluctant to sell," a source with a major copper refinery in China said. High-...Read More

Zinc concentrate treatment charges (TCs) are dropping in China with smelters and traders scrambling to cover shortfalls in supply feed left by shuttered mines.Countries across South America have brought in stringent lockdown measures to combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus with top exporters Peru (2 million tonnes - 2019) and Bolivia (1.1 million tonnes - 2019) among the most restrictive to bus...Read More

The Chinese alumina price dropped sharply on Thursday March 26 on shrinking demand from aluminium smelters, several of whom put part of their capacity on maintenance to avoid further losses. Fastmarkets' alumina metallurgical grade, ddp China price fell to 2,380-2,420 yuan ($335-341) per tonne on Thursday, from 2,450-2,550 yuan per tonne a week earlier and a year-to-date high of 2,620-2,540 y...Read More

The three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Monday March 30, with price action falling by around 1.6% after more than 24,000 tonnes of metal was delivered back to LME-registered warehouses across Asia.Aluminium's underlying price on the LME was recently seen at $1,528.50 per tonne, down by $17 per tonne from Friday's closing price of $1,545.50 p...Read More

Markets were looking quite mixed this morning, Monday March 30, with most Asian-Pacific equity indices down, the pre-market Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 0.2%, oil prices down by around 5% and the base metals prices mixed.Base metals face numerous cross currents with demand expected to recover in China but fall further in the world ex-China, while the Covid-19 virus and lower prices lead to s...Read More

While hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have remained largely steady day on day, sources anticipated a scrap- and demand-driven downturn in spot pricing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $27.15 per hundredweight ($543 per short ton) on Monday March 30, up by 0.3% from $27.08 per cwt on Friday Marc...Read More

Gerdau has halted price increase attempts in Brazil amid market weakness because of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report by local investment bank Ita?? BBA from Sunday March 29.The company mainly produces long steel in the country, although it also makes some hot-rolled coil and heavy plate at its Ouro Branco mill in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais.Domestic prices are currently at...Read More

Swedish steelmaker SSAB plans temporary worker layoffs at its operations in Finland, and consequently a reduction in output, in response to the downturn in the flat steel market resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said on Monday March 30.SSAB has initiated negotiations with its employees on the proposed layoffs at its Finnish assets, the company said. The decision followed a drastic...Read More

ArcelorMittal has resumed operations at its long steel manufacturing sites in Luxembourg, where it stopped operations about a week ago because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said on Monday March 30."After days of suspended activity, ArcelorMittal decided to resume production at the Belval, Differdange and Rodange sites on Monday," the company said.It had been reported to have started closur...Read More

The lockdown in India has caused a variety of logistical issues resulting in imported scrap material becoming stranded at ports and leading to potentially large charges at a time when trading has come to a sudden halt, market sources have told Fastmarkets. On March 24, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the country would begin a 21-day lockdown period effective from midnight until...Read More

Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices fell sharply for the third time in two weeks amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has brought steel trade to a halt and led to closures or production cuts, sources said on Monday March 30.A steel mill in northern Turkey was heard booking a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 9,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20), 14,000 tonnes of shredded and 3,000 tonnes of bonus at an averag...Read More

Global ferrous scrap prices continued to fall sharply in major markets during the working week from Monday March 23 to Friday March 27, because of the worsening Covid-19 pandemic.Turkish import prices slump furtherBuying prices down at US East Coast docksTaiwan import price at three-year lowIndian market collapses on lockdown order; price drops $44 per tonne.TurkeyPrices in the world's largest scr...Read More

Turkish domestic scrap prices have continued to fall in the past week, in line with the sharp downturn in imported scrap values due to the Covid-19 virus outbreak, sources said on Monday March 30.Imported scrap prices in the Turkish market plunged once again last week amid production cuts, closures and weak steel trade resulting from the global spread of the coronavirus.In response to the drop in...Read More

European Metal Recycling (EMR) has shut down part of its operations in the UK due to the Covid-19 virus outbreak, the company said on its website on Friday March 27.The closures took effect from Friday evening, the company said, but no dateline was given for the move. Many scrap suppliers in the UK are cutting production, with almost all scrap processing shuttered in Scotland and much of it in Eng...Read More

Algerian steelmakers Algerian Qatari Steel (AQS) and El-Hadjar Iron & Steel Complex have stopped crude steel production because of the Covid-19 pandemic, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 27.The country's authorities have issued a decree calling on companies to reduce their non-essential workforces by at least 50% to limit the spread of the virus. The decree came into force on March...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices dropped closer to the $80-per-tonne level on Monday March 30 on plunging rebar prices in China and a negative outlook for downstream demand in April among some market participants. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $82.98 per tonne, down $3.38 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $83.88 per tonne, down $3.14 per tone58% Fe fines high-grade...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices plummeted on Monday March 30, with steel mills - especially those outside China - expected to cut output in the second quarter. Fastmarkets IndicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $147.73 per tonne, down $5.71 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $155.54 per tonne, down $2.49 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $134.01 per tonne, down $5.88 per tonneHard...Read More

China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices fell further on Monday 30 amid thin trading, while exporters have started to think twice about short-selling after mills announced plans to cut production.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,290-3,310 yuan ($464-466) per tonne, down 40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,260 yuan per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneThin trading in Shanghai forced sellers...Read More